Article support and clothes hanger



Nov. 16, 1965 A. E. STRUENSEE ARTICLE SUPPORT AND CLOTHES HANGER 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed June 4, 1964 E S N RM W S W T NS VE R U H T R A I B Z 4 z w ii A t W Nov. 16, 1965 A. E. STRUENSEE ARTICLE SUPPORT AND CLOTHES HANGER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 4, 1964 INVE NTOR ARTHUR E. STRUENSEE Nov. 16, 1965 A. E. STRUENSEE ARTICLE SUPPORT AND CLOTHES HANGER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 4, 1964 INVENTOR ARTHUR E. STRUENSE E United States ate This invention appertains to supports and more particularly to new and useful improvements in a foldable hanger or tree for clothes and personal articles.

In the past, there have been developed different types of clothes hangers and trees for commercial establishments as well as residences, to be associated with articles of furniture, such as beds and the like. To my knowledge, however, all prior devices have been relatively complicated, hard to attach and inconvenient and difficult to use. There is a need therefore particularly in hotels, motels and hospitals for an article and clothes holder which can be readily associated with articles or furniture and which can be folded or closed to a useful retracted position and opened or extended to a fully operative position for hanging articles of clothing and supporting personal items, usually carried on the person.

It is, therefore, a primary object of my present invention to provide a foldable garment hanger and article holder which has a retracted, closed position so that it takes up little room and which can be easily and quickly extended to a fully operative position for supporting personal articles, as Well as articles of clothing.

Another important object of my present invention, is to provide a combination article holder and clothes tree Which can be easily mounted to the side of a bed or other piece of furniture, where it can be either extended to a fully operative position, or retracted to an out-of-the-way position.

A further object of my present invention, resides in providing a tray which can be held in a useful vertical position both when the device is opened and closed, to function as an article holder, or ash tray as desired.

A salient feature of my device resides in providing an outer post or holder tube member slidably receiving an article support arm, carrying pivoted hooks and a trouser hanger wherein the hooks are pivotally received Within the arm in its retracted, closed position, and swing outwardly to support articles of clothing when the arm is extended to its operative position.

A further object of my invention is to provide a simple, practical and reliable construction that is economical to manufacture, easy to assemble and positive in its operation.

With the above and other objects in View, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel combination, construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

Preferred and practical embodiments of my invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is an elevational view in perspective show ing my device attached to the head of a bed in its useful retracted position;

FIGURE 2 is a similar perspective view but showing my device in its full, operative, extended position with articles of clothing being represented in dotted lines shown associated with the support arm;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged vertical section with certain parts being broken away and in section to show details of construction, the device being in its retracted folded position and illustrating in dotted lines how the tray can be elevated and tilted to dump out ashes when the same is used as an ash tray;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view partly in section, showing my device in its fully ill Patented Nov. 15, 1965 operative extended position, and in particular illustrating how the tray can be pivoted from a dotted line position to its full line position;

FIGURE 5 is a top elevational view partly in section, of the extended device shown in FIGURE 4 of the drawings, the view being represented by the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4, looking in the direction of the arrows and illustrating how the support arm can be pivoted from one side to the other to extend outwardly to a desired direction;

FIGURE 6 is a horizontal section taken on the line 66 of FIGURE 3 of the drawings, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 77 of FIGURE 4, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section taken on the line 88 of FIGURE 4 of the drawings, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 9 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 9-9 of FIGURE 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 10 is a side elevational view partly in section, illustrating a modified form of support for my novel device, the device being shown in full lines in its useful retracted position and in dotted lines in its extended fully operative position, and

FIGURE 11 is a horizontal section taken on the line l11l of FIGURE 10 of the drawings and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter C generally indicates one form of my novel combination clothes hanger and article support and the same includes broadly an outer casing or hollow post 20, an inner sleeve member 21 of a size and configuration to be snugly but slidably received within the outer post 20 and an article supporting arm 22 pivotally connected at 23 to the sleeve member 21. The article supporting arm 22 at its upper end pivotally carries an article holding tray 24, by means of the cross pin 25 and slot 26 formed at the lower end termination of the tray supporting arm 27. It is understood that my novel clothes hanger or tree can be constructed from any desired material, but is preferably made from a light metal, such as aluminum. Further, my device is so constructed that it may be attached conventiently to any article of furniture, to doors or the like, but for the purpose of illustration, particularly as shown in FIGURES 1 to 9, inclusive, the same is shown attached to the head H of a bedB. For this purpose, the hollow post 20 is formed in the shape of an elongated hollow length of square cross section, and the lower portion may be nailed or screwed into the side of the head of the bed by means of screw or nail 28, and is preferably spaced from the side by a suitable spacer 29. Intermediate its length and adjacent the top portion of the head of the bed, I secure a bracket 30 and this bracket has its lower end termination bent in the shape of a U-hook 31. This bracket obviously can again be secured either by nails or screws 32, as shown. Loosely carried about the post 20 is an attaching strap 33, three sides of which conform to the general configuration of the post and the inner end of which is formed to be spaced somewhat from the post, as indicated by the numeral 34. This particular leg 35 of strap 33 is received within the hook portion 31 of the bracket 30 and thus post 20 is firmly held to the head of the bed. It should be noted that the screw or nail 28 also acts as a limit stop for the full retracted position of sleeve 21 to relieve tension that would ordinarily be placed on the tray 24.

Arm 22 as previously mentioned, is pivoted adjacent its lower end to the upper portion of sleeve 21 and this can be accomplished in any desired manner, however, since preferably arm 22 is U-shaped in cross section with the open portion of the U facing downwardly in its extended position I merely place a pivot pin 36 across the gap and this pin extends through the eye of a retainer bolt or pin 37 secured to sleeve 21. Thus, it is readily apparent that arm 22 is pivotally secured to sleeve 21. Also pivotally carried within the U-shaped body of arm 22 by means of pivot pins 38 are a series of hooks 39 the eyes of which are loosely received about the pins 38. Thus, as shown more particularly in FIGURE 3 of the drawings, when the arm 22 is received within the post gravity will pivot the hooks to the position shown, where they will be retracted within the sides of the U- shaped arm 22 and when the device is extended as shown in FIGURE 4, hooks 39 will pivot to an operative position as shown. It should be further noted that the retainer bolt or pin 37 is received in suitable apertures formed in the upper wall 40 and an intermediate wall 41 and is secured against upper movement by means of a lock pin 42. The retainer bolt 37 is preferably round so that it swivels within the appropriate apertures and so that as illustrated more particularly in FIGURE 5, arm 22 can be pivoted to any one of three positions as indicated by the arrows and dotted lines. For this purpose, the upper end termination of post 2417 is formed with an extended lip 43 forming a continuation of the rear wall 44 of the post and this lip extends partly around to the side walls of the post and forms a stop for the arm 22 when the same is swiveled to any one of the dotted line positions, as shown. The supporting leg or arm 27 for tray 24 also may carry a freely swingable hook 39' and the upper wall 45 of .arm 22 at its end termination is cut out and one of the side walls is provided with a pair of spaced lugs 46 of a size and configuration to receive the lower end of the leg 27 to aid, in conjunction with pin and the edge of wall 45, in holding the leg in a vertical upright operative position, as shown more particularly in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawings. To accomplish this, it is only necessary to pull out on leg 27 so that the end of the leg is clear of the lugs 46 and then to pivot the leg from its dotted line position, FIGURE 4, to full line position in the direction of the arrows and allow the same to drop by gravity between the lugs as shown in FIGURE 4.

Attention is now directed to FIGURES 1 and 3 of the drawings, wherein my novel article holder and clothes tree is shown in its folded retracted position. In this position, the tray 24 rests on the upper periphery of the lip 43 and the combined fastener and stop 23 is placed in such a position that the tray will barely rest on the lip. Further, in this position the lower end termination of the leg 27 is received between the upper curved wall 45 and the inner lug 46. Also the tray is still useful, either as an article holder or as an ash tray. If the same is used as an ash tray, and it is desired to empty the tray, it is only necessary to elevate the tray from its full line position toward the dotted line position, FIGURE 3, and to then tilt the tray in either direction to empty the same. When on the other hand it is desired to utilize the device fully, the tray is grasped and the entire device including arm 22 and sleeve 21 is pulled upwardly until the upper wall 4% of sleeve 21 contacts the limit stop screw 47. This stop screw is so located that when it contacts wall of sleeve 21, the Wall is substantially level with the upper periphery of the sides of the post 20. The arm 22 can be pivoted at right angles to the post and will rest on the upper wall of sleeve 21 and any of the side or front walls of the post N, and the hooks 39 will pivot by gravity to their operative position and personal articles and clothing P can be placed upon them. Further, on the inner side of arm 22, I arrange a pair of trouse holders 0r clips 48 and 49, respectively, and

trousers can be slipped into the spring fingers and the fingers will grip and hold the cuffs and prevent the trousers from falling. This manner of utilizing my device is shown clearly in FIGURE 2 of the drawings, and obviously, articles such as Wristwatches, wallets, and the like can be placed in the tray, as shown. Thus personal articles of clothing and other objects carried on the person can be conveniently hung and supported adjacent the bed for immediate access thereto. However, as previously mentioned my device can be secured to any article of furniture, or to closet doors and the like, and further, my novel device can be associated with other articles, such as pole lamps or other types of upright supports that are placed between the ceiling and the floor. This slight modification is illustrated in FIGURES l0 and 11. The type of pole supported between the floor 50 and ceiling 50 can be of any usual standard type, and the same usually includes an elongated tubular member 51 with adjustable end feet 52 and 53, respectively, and these feet are adjusted so that the pole is held in a vertical upright position between the ceiling and the floor, as shown in FIGURE 10. As is usual, but not shown, lamps or other appendages can be secured to the pole.

In any event, the upper portion of the pole 51 is provided with a longitudinal slot 54 of a size and configuration to allow the free ingress and egress of the arm 22. In all other respects, except for very minor changes, the device is identical to that shown and described in FIGURES 1 to 9, inclusive. The minor differences reside in the fact that in this form of the invention sleeve 21' is rounded or tubular, instead of square shape and leg 27 is curved outwardly through slot 54, and the tray 24 is then secured to the horizontal flat portion 55 of leg 27. The extend the device associated with pole 51 to its fully operative position, it is merely necessary to grip the leg 27', elevate the same toward the top portion of slot 54, pivot arm 22 downwardly to its dotted line position and then to pull out leg 27 for the full length of its slot and pivot the same in the direction of the dotted arrow FIGURE 10, to again position the tray in a horizontal operative position.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that I have provided a new and novel combination article support and clothes tree, which is extremely useful and convenient to handle and manipulate and which can be retracted to a useful, inoperative out-of-the-way position and readily extended to its fully operative position for supporting articles of clothing and personal objects, and that the same will find many uses, not only in hotels, motels, dormatories, and hospitals, but for personal and residential use.

While I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these embodiments are merely for the purpose of illustration and description; that various other forms may be devised, and that changes may be made in the proportion and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims:

I claim:

1. An article support and clothes hanger including, an upright hollow vertical post member, a sleeve of a size and configuration to be snugly and slidably received in said post member, means limiting the downward travel of said sleeve, means limiting the upward travel of said sleeve, an anticle support arm pivotally secured to the upper end of said sleeve and adapted to pivot clear of at least one portion of said post into its extended upper position at right angles thereto, a leg pivotally secured to the upper end of said arm, a tray secured to the opposite end of said leg, said leg and tray being so constructed and arranged as to support said tray in a horizontal position when said arm is retracted within said post and when said arm is extended at right angles to said post, and means associated with said arm to carry and support articles of clothin 2. An article support and clothes hanger including, an upright hollow vertical post member, means for securing said post to the head of a bed and the like, a sleeve of a size and configuration to be snugly and slidably received in said post member, means limiting the downward travel of said sleeve adjacent the upper end of said post member, means limiting the upward travel of said sleeve, an article support arm U-shaped in cross section pivotally and swivelly secured to the upper end of said sleeve and adapted to pivot clear of at least one portion of said post into its extended upper position at right angles thereto, the inner portion of said post adjacent said head of the bed being extended upwardly beyond the upper end termination thereof to provide a lip and stop for the swivelling of said arm in its extended position, a leg pivotally secured to the upper end of said arm, a tray secured to the opposite end of said leg, said leg, arm, respective pivot and tray being so constructed and arranged as to support said tray in a horizontal position when said arm and leg are retracted within said post and when said arm is extended at right angles to said post and said leg is pivoted to a vertical position, and means including freely swingable hooks associated with said arm to carry and suppont articles of clothing, and said hooks pivoting by gravity within said U-shaped arm when said arm is in its vertical retracted position.

3. An article support and clothes hanger as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for securing said post to the head of a bed includes, a bracket afiixed to a side of the head, said bracket having a lower outwardly extending U-shaped hook portion, a freely slidable strap about said post having a portion received in said hook, and a fastener through said post adjacent the lower end thereof.

4. An article support and clothes hanger at set forth in claim 1, wherein said upright vertical post member includes, an intermediate hollow tubular member, adjustable feet at each end termination thereof engaging a respective portion of a wall and ceiling, an elongated slot of a size and configuration to provide for the free ingress and egress of said arm from its retracted to its extended position and said tray carrying leg extending outwardly through said slot at an angle to said arm and post when said arm is in its fully retracted position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 912,936 2/1909 Cowdrey 108-135 1,171,826 2/1916 Abramson, et al. 10849 1,739,643 12/1929 Lowry 1()828 1,740,401 12/ 1929 Hostetter 10828 2,654,484 10/1953 Win et al. 5318 X 2,919,941 1/1960 Bohlrnan et al 5-318 X 3,072,784 1/1963 Mann 248-354 X FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN ARTICLE SUPPORT AND CLOTHES HANGER INCLUDING, AN UPRIGHT HOLLOW VERTICAL POST MEMBER, A SLEEVE OF A SIZE AND CONFIGURATION TO BE SNUGLY AND SLIDABLE RECEIVED IN SAID POST MEMBER, MEANS LIMITING THE DOWNWARD TRAVEL OF SAID SLEEVE, MEANS LIMITING THE UPWARD TRAVEL OF SAID SLEEVE, AN ARTICLE ARTICLE ARM PIVOTALLY SECURED TO THE UPPER END OF SAID SLEEVE AND ADAPTED TO PIVOT CLEAR OF AT LEAST ONE PORTION OF SAID POOST INTO ITS EXTENDED UPPER POSTION AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO, A LEG PIVOTALLY SECURED TO THE UPPER END OF SAID ARM, A TRAY SECURED TO THE OPPOSITIVE END OF SAID LEG, SAID LEG AND TRAY BEING SO CON- 